WooYoung couldn’t stop thinking about girls. Well, two girls in particular: Dara and SooYoung. He had no clue what he thought of Dara anymore. He still loved her, but he couldn’t spend time with her anymore because she was too busy stalking G-Dragon. He couldn’t stop loving her, though. He’d tried, he really had. He knew that she wasn’t perfect, but to him, that didn’t matter. And then there was Soo. She was quickly becoming one of his closest friends, and he’d completely forgotten NichKhun’s theory of her liking him. He didn’t want to seem oblivious, but he really didn’t know if it was true or not, and he didn’t want to make assumptions.
He knew he couldn’t bother his brother, as he was stressed out about something that he wouldn’t mention, but he was in desperate need of help. He didn’t know who to turn to. The boys with the most girl experience were Taec and Nich, and although Woo though Taec was a nice guy, he wasn’t sure if he was the best advice-giver. He had no clue what was up with Junho and NichKhun, either. For the past week, both of them had been extremely quiet and he was almost positive there was something both of them weren’t telling him.
He sighed and rolled over on his bed so that he was facing the back of Khun’s head.
“Hey Nich,” He didn’t look up from his laptop, where he was typing away feverently.
“Hmm?”
“I need your help.”
NichKhun snorted. “When do you not?”He groaned and swiveled around. “What is it this time?”
“It’s about Dara.”
His best friend let out a frustrated sigh. “Let go. That’s all I have to say.”
“But—“
“Look, I know it’s hard, but you have to learn from your mistakes. Dara’s a mistake. She’s a nice girl, but she’s just not…mature enough. She’s living a fairytale, and she’s dragging you into it. I know what I’m talking about.” He ran both hands through his hair. “She’s being so unreasonable. We’re third years. We graduate next year. All of us have so many important things to worry about. Does she think we have time for drama?”
WooYoung stared at his friend for a long time without saying anything, and then finally opened his mouth. “What’s going on with you and Junho?”
“It’s not anything.”
“It is something,” Woo insisted. “You always say that we’re growing apart, but you’re not doing anything to mend our relationship, either. I know I’ve made some stupid mistakes for a girl, and I don’t want to repeat them, but this isn’t right. We’re friends.”
NichKhun tugged his caramel-colored hair, a habit that he was slowly picking up from SooYoung. He hesitated for a moment before speaking. “I think I know something,” he looked around the empty room, “about Junho’s past.”
WooYoung’s eyebrows went up. “Explain.”
Nich thrust a thick folder into his hands. “This is a list of people and names that I found in one of his notebooks. I tried my best to connect them to each other, but I can’t make much sense of it. Take a look inside.”
**
Yoona and Taec walked down the long hallways, their hands entertwined. Yoona held her head high, her long hair swaying from side to side for the first time since elementary. She had never felt so free before. With Taec’s help, she’d gotten over her humiliation, and was now living the way she wanted to. It was her senior year, anyways. She wanted to live it to its fullest with the ones she loved.
She looked at her now-public boyfriend and smiled. He squeezed her hand and together, the new It Couple walked on.
**
“Oh. Ma. GAWSH! That dress is soo cute!”
SooYoung couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Jessica’s broken English and horrible pronounciation. She watched on as Sunny, Yuri, and Jess fawned over Bom’s clothes. SooYoung found it weird how she’d come just a week before Yoona was thrown. It was almost as if someone had planned it all out. She stared at Sunny, who was stuffing discarded clothes into a black trash bag. Just a month and a half ago, she would have been scurrying around the room trying to pick those clothes up for herself before Yuri threw them out. She’d been so miserable in their group; and she’d also been a bit pathetic, trying her best to please everyone in WooYoung’s friend circle and throwing herself around to make people like her.
What had changed?
SooYoung kept staring, and soon, they locked eyes on each other. SooYoung raised an eyebrow and gave Sunny a quizzical look, which she fully ignored. Instead, she wrinkled her little nose ever-so-slightly and turned away in what SooYoung supposed was disgust. She wasn’t surprised. She frowned and got up, ready to exit before the girls made her slave to one of their fashion shows, when she noticed a shadow cast on the floor, close to the window. She whirled around but only saw the four girls, now in the bathroom. There was no way that shadow had been any of them. The Dolls were all size zeroes. That shadow…hadn’t been.
Someone had been watching them, but who? And more importantly, why?
**
An hour later
Sunny stared at the back of Seungri’s head, instead of working on her music-making skills, contemplating what shape it was. She suddenly remembered that time in the café when SooYoung had been scrutinizing WooYoung’s pear-shaped head.
She lightly tapped Seungri on the shoulder and he looked up from his sheet and gave her a small smile.
“Hey there.”
“Hello,” Sunny said, leaning forward. “So, Seungri, how are your parents?”
Seungri’s face fell. “They’re okay. I’m still working on making money.”
Sunny pouted. “Poor, poor Seungri. There’s nothing in your life to cheer you up, is there? Not even a girl. That’s unfortunate.” She let her hands wander to his collar. “Don’t you ever get tired of doing things for others?”
“No…”
“Don’t you ever want to do anything for yourself?”
“Um…”
“Look, Seungri, we both know that I’m a close friend of yours, and I’m the only person besides Daesung who knows your secret. And I’m available.”
Seungri raised his eyebrows. “Are you saying—“
“Mhmm.”
Sunny looked around to make sure the teacher wasn’t looking—he wasn’t. She praised herself silently for choosing the very back seat and yanked Seungri by the collar so that their noses were touching.
“So…what do you say?”
Seungri thought for a moment, then shrugged.
“Why not?”
Sunny nodded briefly. That was the answer she’d been hoping to hear.
**
Junho, NichKhun, SooYoung, Minzy, Daesung, and WooYoung were all sitting at a round table during lunchtime, all of them talking in little groups among themselves.
Minzy was the first to notice when the cafeteria went silent.
“What’s wrong?” she asked loudly.
They all turned to look in the direction of the double doors to which everyone was pointing. None of them saw anything unusual: Yoona and Taec were walking in, looking like the perfect couple that they were. But…what was that? Two blonde heads followed them. CL and G-Dragon sauntered in, their chins held high, firmly holding hands.
“They’re not…” Daesung didn’t finish his sentence.
“I think they are,” SooYoung whispered back.
Usually, with the exception of Minzy and Daesung, other people’s love lives weren’t something that really interested this group, but this was different. Everybody was staring at WooYoung, who was staring at Dara. She had a shocked expression on her face, her fork lifted up, spaghetti dangling dangerously from the end. It seemed as if none of the other seniors or juniors had known, either. Most of them had interested expressions, but nothing matched the astonished look on WooYoung or Dara’s face.
“When did this happen, exactly?” Junho asked quietly, casting glances at G-Dragon.
As if on cue, the double doors opened once again, and in walked in Sunny and Seungri. Daesung made a choking noise.
“What is going on with the world?” NichKhun muttered.
“They are close friends. Maybe we’re judging too quickly. Maybe we’re judging both couples,” WooYoung said, but he didn’t look so sure either.
“Sure doesn’t look very friendly,” SooYoung mumbled. Sunny’s arms were thrown around Seungri’s neck in a careless way, and every two words she said to him contained the word “oppa”. They all watched on as she planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Yup, definitely not judging,” Minzy said. Daesung kept staring at his cousin, who gave him an apologetic smile as they passed by. Sunny turned around and gave SooYoung a satisfied smirk.
A wave of realization sweeped over SooYoung: this was a game that Sunny was playing, and Soo was one of the chess pieces. How had she been so stupid and missed it? She was an enemy to Sunny all along, and she hadn’t even noticed.
I’m not stupid enough to get myself involved in your immature games, she thought, but I am going to find out what sort of trouble you’re stirring up. Something just isn’t right about all of this.
She watched as Sunny whispered something to Seungri, got up from their table, and strolled over to Suzy’s table. She sat down, ignoring eye contact with the monotone girl, while she spoke in a low voice. Suzy nodded, then slipped an envelope into Sunny’s hands. They nodded at each other, and Sunny walked back.
SooYoung was reminded of those questions in the back of magazines: There is something that isn’t right about this picture. Can you figure out what it is?
**
After lunch
All of the third and fourth grade students were gathered around the bulletin board when Taec and Yoona reached it.
“What’s going on?” Yoona craned her neck, trying to get a good look at the board.
Taec chuckled and lifted her up. “Read what it says.”
Yoona peered at the board. “Family Christmas Event: Each student is required to bring at least one member of their family (cousins, parents, siblings, etc.) to our special gala. All students are required to submit at least one piece of work, such as a painting, a written piece, or a special performance. The event will take place on the weekend before Winter Break. Be there. Be ready.”
Taec hoisted Yoona down and frowned. “That barely gave us any information. Sounds like something Principal Ha would write.”
“This is insane,” Yoona stuck out her lower lip. “They’re just asking for trouble, aren’t they?”
*
“Have you heard about it?” Minzy yelled, storming into History of Dance class. “This is insanity. Ha is crazy, he really is. The old man has some nerve to plan something like this. We’re teenagers. The last thing we want to do is bring our families to the only place where we can get away from them. And they expect us to perform for them? Give me a moment, I need to rant.” She started pacing up and down, muttering to herself.
“I think it’s an okay idea,” WooYoung shrugged. “Better than the six-weeks final.”
“That’s ‘cause you have a cool brother,” SooYoung said, making a face. “I’m an only child. I’m gonna bring my mom.”
NichKhun stretched lazily. “My family’s in Thailand, so I don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Lucky,” Jessica said, seating herself on the seat across from him and stretching her long legs over his. He pushed them aside, got up, and switched seats. Jessica followed. NichKhun rolled his eyes.
“I have to bring Krystal, since the ‘rents probably won’t want to come,” Jessica continued. “I hate her,” she added, as if everyone was dying to know.
“You guys are all lame,” Minzy stopped pacing. “I’m bringing my dad. He’s the bomb.”
WooYoung shook his head and smiled as everyone kept discussing who they were going to bring. He took out his cellphone, hoping Teacher Lee would be late, per usual.
“Hey, hyung? We’re having an event at my school. You’re invited.”
He knew he couldn’t bother his brother, as he was stressed out about something that he wouldn’t mention, but he was in desperate need of help. He didn’t know who to turn to. The boys with the most girl experience were Taec and Nich, and although Woo though Taec was a nice guy, he wasn’t sure if he was the best advice-giver. He had no clue what was up with Junho and NichKhun, either. For the past week, both of them had been extremely quiet and he was almost positive there was something both of them weren’t telling him.
He sighed and rolled over on his bed so that he was facing the back of Khun’s head.
“Hey Nich,” He didn’t look up from his laptop, where he was typing away feverently.
“Hmm?”
“I need your help.”
NichKhun snorted. “When do you not?”He groaned and swiveled around. “What is it this time?”
“It’s about Dara.”
His best friend let out a frustrated sigh. “Let go. That’s all I have to say.”
“But—“
“Look, I know it’s hard, but you have to learn from your mistakes. Dara’s a mistake. She’s a nice girl, but she’s just not…mature enough. She’s living a fairytale, and she’s dragging you into it. I know what I’m talking about.” He ran both hands through his hair. “She’s being so unreasonable. We’re third years. We graduate next year. All of us have so many important things to worry about. Does she think we have time for drama?”
WooYoung stared at his friend for a long time without saying anything, and then finally opened his mouth. “What’s going on with you and Junho?”
“It’s not anything.”
“It is something,” Woo insisted. “You always say that we’re growing apart, but you’re not doing anything to mend our relationship, either. I know I’ve made some stupid mistakes for a girl, and I don’t want to repeat them, but this isn’t right. We’re friends.”
NichKhun tugged his caramel-colored hair, a habit that he was slowly picking up from SooYoung. He hesitated for a moment before speaking. “I think I know something,” he looked around the empty room, “about Junho’s past.”
WooYoung’s eyebrows went up. “Explain.”
Nich thrust a thick folder into his hands. “This is a list of people and names that I found in one of his notebooks. I tried my best to connect them to each other, but I can’t make much sense of it. Take a look inside.”
**
Yoona and Taec walked down the long hallways, their hands entertwined. Yoona held her head high, her long hair swaying from side to side for the first time since elementary. She had never felt so free before. With Taec’s help, she’d gotten over her humiliation, and was now living the way she wanted to. It was her senior year, anyways. She wanted to live it to its fullest with the ones she loved.
She looked at her now-public boyfriend and smiled. He squeezed her hand and together, the new It Couple walked on.
**
“Oh. Ma. GAWSH! That dress is soo cute!”
SooYoung couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Jessica’s broken English and horrible pronounciation. She watched on as Sunny, Yuri, and Jess fawned over Bom’s clothes. SooYoung found it weird how she’d come just a week before Yoona was thrown. It was almost as if someone had planned it all out. She stared at Sunny, who was stuffing discarded clothes into a black trash bag. Just a month and a half ago, she would have been scurrying around the room trying to pick those clothes up for herself before Yuri threw them out. She’d been so miserable in their group; and she’d also been a bit pathetic, trying her best to please everyone in WooYoung’s friend circle and throwing herself around to make people like her.
What had changed?
SooYoung kept staring, and soon, they locked eyes on each other. SooYoung raised an eyebrow and gave Sunny a quizzical look, which she fully ignored. Instead, she wrinkled her little nose ever-so-slightly and turned away in what SooYoung supposed was disgust. She wasn’t surprised. She frowned and got up, ready to exit before the girls made her slave to one of their fashion shows, when she noticed a shadow cast on the floor, close to the window. She whirled around but only saw the four girls, now in the bathroom. There was no way that shadow had been any of them. The Dolls were all size zeroes. That shadow…hadn’t been.
Someone had been watching them, but who? And more importantly, why?
**
An hour later
Sunny stared at the back of Seungri’s head, instead of working on her music-making skills, contemplating what shape it was. She suddenly remembered that time in the café when SooYoung had been scrutinizing WooYoung’s pear-shaped head.
She lightly tapped Seungri on the shoulder and he looked up from his sheet and gave her a small smile.
“Hey there.”
“Hello,” Sunny said, leaning forward. “So, Seungri, how are your parents?”
Seungri’s face fell. “They’re okay. I’m still working on making money.”
Sunny pouted. “Poor, poor Seungri. There’s nothing in your life to cheer you up, is there? Not even a girl. That’s unfortunate.” She let her hands wander to his collar. “Don’t you ever get tired of doing things for others?”
“No…”
“Don’t you ever want to do anything for yourself?”
“Um…”
“Look, Seungri, we both know that I’m a close friend of yours, and I’m the only person besides Daesung who knows your secret. And I’m available.”
Seungri raised his eyebrows. “Are you saying—“
“Mhmm.”
Sunny looked around to make sure the teacher wasn’t looking—he wasn’t. She praised herself silently for choosing the very back seat and yanked Seungri by the collar so that their noses were touching.
“So…what do you say?”
Seungri thought for a moment, then shrugged.
“Why not?”
Sunny nodded briefly. That was the answer she’d been hoping to hear.
**
Junho, NichKhun, SooYoung, Minzy, Daesung, and WooYoung were all sitting at a round table during lunchtime, all of them talking in little groups among themselves.
Minzy was the first to notice when the cafeteria went silent.
“What’s wrong?” she asked loudly.
They all turned to look in the direction of the double doors to which everyone was pointing. None of them saw anything unusual: Yoona and Taec were walking in, looking like the perfect couple that they were. But…what was that? Two blonde heads followed them. CL and G-Dragon sauntered in, their chins held high, firmly holding hands.
“They’re not…” Daesung didn’t finish his sentence.
“I think they are,” SooYoung whispered back.
Usually, with the exception of Minzy and Daesung, other people’s love lives weren’t something that really interested this group, but this was different. Everybody was staring at WooYoung, who was staring at Dara. She had a shocked expression on her face, her fork lifted up, spaghetti dangling dangerously from the end. It seemed as if none of the other seniors or juniors had known, either. Most of them had interested expressions, but nothing matched the astonished look on WooYoung or Dara’s face.
“When did this happen, exactly?” Junho asked quietly, casting glances at G-Dragon.
As if on cue, the double doors opened once again, and in walked in Sunny and Seungri. Daesung made a choking noise.
“What is going on with the world?” NichKhun muttered.
“They are close friends. Maybe we’re judging too quickly. Maybe we’re judging both couples,” WooYoung said, but he didn’t look so sure either.
“Sure doesn’t look very friendly,” SooYoung mumbled. Sunny’s arms were thrown around Seungri’s neck in a careless way, and every two words she said to him contained the word “oppa”. They all watched on as she planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Yup, definitely not judging,” Minzy said. Daesung kept staring at his cousin, who gave him an apologetic smile as they passed by. Sunny turned around and gave SooYoung a satisfied smirk.
A wave of realization sweeped over SooYoung: this was a game that Sunny was playing, and Soo was one of the chess pieces. How had she been so stupid and missed it? She was an enemy to Sunny all along, and she hadn’t even noticed.
I’m not stupid enough to get myself involved in your immature games, she thought, but I am going to find out what sort of trouble you’re stirring up. Something just isn’t right about all of this.
She watched as Sunny whispered something to Seungri, got up from their table, and strolled over to Suzy’s table. She sat down, ignoring eye contact with the monotone girl, while she spoke in a low voice. Suzy nodded, then slipped an envelope into Sunny’s hands. They nodded at each other, and Sunny walked back.
SooYoung was reminded of those questions in the back of magazines: There is something that isn’t right about this picture. Can you figure out what it is?
**
After lunch
All of the third and fourth grade students were gathered around the bulletin board when Taec and Yoona reached it.
“What’s going on?” Yoona craned her neck, trying to get a good look at the board.
Taec chuckled and lifted her up. “Read what it says.”
Yoona peered at the board. “Family Christmas Event: Each student is required to bring at least one member of their family (cousins, parents, siblings, etc.) to our special gala. All students are required to submit at least one piece of work, such as a painting, a written piece, or a special performance. The event will take place on the weekend before Winter Break. Be there. Be ready.”
Taec hoisted Yoona down and frowned. “That barely gave us any information. Sounds like something Principal Ha would write.”
“This is insane,” Yoona stuck out her lower lip. “They’re just asking for trouble, aren’t they?”
*
“Have you heard about it?” Minzy yelled, storming into History of Dance class. “This is insanity. Ha is crazy, he really is. The old man has some nerve to plan something like this. We’re teenagers. The last thing we want to do is bring our families to the only place where we can get away from them. And they expect us to perform for them? Give me a moment, I need to rant.” She started pacing up and down, muttering to herself.
“I think it’s an okay idea,” WooYoung shrugged. “Better than the six-weeks final.”
“That’s ‘cause you have a cool brother,” SooYoung said, making a face. “I’m an only child. I’m gonna bring my mom.”
NichKhun stretched lazily. “My family’s in Thailand, so I don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Lucky,” Jessica said, seating herself on the seat across from him and stretching her long legs over his. He pushed them aside, got up, and switched seats. Jessica followed. NichKhun rolled his eyes.
“I have to bring Krystal, since the ‘rents probably won’t want to come,” Jessica continued. “I hate her,” she added, as if everyone was dying to know.
“You guys are all lame,” Minzy stopped pacing. “I’m bringing my dad. He’s the bomb.”
WooYoung shook his head and smiled as everyone kept discussing who they were going to bring. He took out his cellphone, hoping Teacher Lee would be late, per usual.
“Hey, hyung? We’re having an event at my school. You’re invited.”
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WooYoung had had a rough day, and was now taking his anger out on a salmon roll.
“Slow down,” his brother warned, taking his chopsticks away from him and devouring his sushi. “You don’t need this food. All the fat goes to your cheeks, anyways.”
For the first time since he’d come to Seoul High, WooYoung had used his free period to meet up with his family. He had mixed feelings about it: guilt for not doing so sooner, happiness because he’d missed his brother so much, and anxiety, because he knew that his brother was going to ask about Dara.
“Hyung*, do you have a girlfriend?”
*(older) brother
“Wouldn’t you know if I had one, moron?”
“Well, it’s not like you have to share your private life with me, you know.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t. Too busy.”
“With what? Zelda?”
“Yes, actually. The new one came out, have you heard? I’m buying it tomorrow. But don’t tell mom.”
“As if.”
“So, now, for the much anticipated question: How is your love life?”
“Sucky, thanks for mentioning it.”
“Did you take my advice?”
“Well, kinda.”
WooYoung filled him in on everything that had happened in the past four weeks, including his sneaking out, the big fight in H.O.D class, and everything else.
“Wow,” his brother pushed the sleeves of his blazer back and leaned back in his chair. “That’s quite a dilemma you’ve got there. You know what I say? Try to concentrate a bit more on your friends. It seems like Nich and Junho are going through a rough time as well, and if you focus on them, it might actually get you somewhere. Besides, bros before hos, remember?”
“Yeah, you’re right. There’s definitely something fishy going on with Junho. I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not girl-related.”
“Good for you. Hey, isn’t that Eunhyuk headed over here? Holy hell, it is. I haven’t seen him in forever.”
WooYoung grinned. He loved his brother’s friends. They were, to simply put it, awesome: amazingly talented, good-looking, and friendly. They got along with everybody and although they didn’t game intensely like Woo’s brother, they were pretty into StarCraft too.
“Yo,” Eunhyuk plopped down next to WooYoung. “How’s it goin’, little one? Heard you got into that fancy-shmancy school. Any hot chicks over there?”
“Some.”
“Woo’s got one, but she’s a bit crazy. She doesn’t like him. Look at him. Who wouldn’t like those chubby cheeks, that charismatic smile, the button nose?” His brother said, pinching his cheeks.
WooYoung rolled his eyes, causing Eunhyuk to laugh.
“Do they have good dance teachers over there?” he asked earnestly. Eunhyuk was the best dancer WooYoung had ever seen, even better than Junho or SooYoung, and he could rap up a storm. “Maybe I should come over there.”
“Bro, beware. They’ve got major drama, those third years.” His brother moved onto WooYoung’s other plate and wiped that one clean as well.
“How ‘bout the seniors? Any available girls?”
“Well…there is one,” WooYoung couldn’t help but smile. “Her name’s Yuri, and she’s totally your type. Want me to set you up with her?”
“Thanks bro. You’re the best. Oh, look who’s coming. It’s Fishy. He can’t go anywhere without me, you know.”
Donghae, his brother and Eunhyuk’s other best friend, walked over and slapped Eunhyuk on the head.
“You idiot! You just got up and left without paying the bill, and I had to wash the dishes because I didn’t have money on me. And now you’re eating again? You’re a pig, really. And you—“ he pointed at Woo’s brother, “you have the nerve to let Monkey here eat sushi without me? You really are something.”
“Don’t hate me ‘cause I’m beautiful,” his brother said, shrugging easily and eating yet another sushi roll.
WooYoung watched them goof around wistfully. He, NichKhun, and Junho hadn’t been like this for weeks. He wanted everything to go back to normal, but he didn’t know what to do.
“If only there was a reset button,” his brother said, reading his thoughts.
That comment instantly started a rap battle between Donghae and Eunhyuk, and developed into a song, with WooYoung’s brother providing the main vocals.
“Just press the reset, reset. If only you could press the reset, reset.”*
*This whole thing is a huge Super Junior reference. I urge you to do some research.
**
CL piled her long, blonde hair on her head, swiped some lip gloss on her lips, and took a deep breath before knocking on the door of the music room. When nobody answered, she slowly turned the knob and let herself in.
“G-Dragon? Are you there?
A single piano key was struck, given her the answer.
“I need to talk to you.”
G-Dragon looked up, his dark eyes rimmed with purple circles, his mouth drawn into a frown.
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to ask you something.” She came over and sat next to him on the piano bench. “Do you like Dara?”
CL wasn’t one to beat around the bush.
“She’s a good girl and everything but…no. I mean, I can’t think of her like that when she keeps trying to come onto me, you know? She doesn’t give me a chance to even sort out my thoughts.”
“Good,” CL said firmly.
Good?
“I have a proposition for you. It will guarantee keeping her off your back, I promise.”
“What is it?”
**
Suzy picked up her lunch tray and plunked down next to Taec, who was wolfing down a turkey sandwich.
“Hey, Elf Ears.”
Taec looked up.
“Hi,” he said, his mouth full.
“So, how are you?”
Taec stared at the girl, not sure how to respond.
“Ah, I’m good. I’d ask how you were, but we’re not exactly friends, and I’m sorta wondering the reason for why you’re here right now more than how you are.”
“Well, I want to change that. I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Why, though?”
“No reason. Should there be a reason, elf? It’s called being friendly, for god’s sake. Jeez.”
She got up and walked away, blowing her cheeks in and out, a habit she’d picked up from watching WooYoung.
**
On the other side of the room, NichKhun and Junho were seated at a table, awkwardly eating their lunch. Junho was eating salad with one hand, and writing in his Composition notebook with the other. NichKhun opened his mout to ask what was wrong, but a squeal drowned his voice out.
“Oppa!”
“Oh my gosh,” he muttered, burying his head in his hands. “Someone save me now.”
“Oppa, how are you? You should really eat more.”
“Jessica, go away, please.”
“Aish, but you’re really ruining all my fun. I’m giving you a free pass to be with me, and you’re passing it by. That’s really dangerous, NichKhun. You know that, right?”
Junho stared pointedly at NichKhun, waiting for him to give the right answer.
“I really don’t care, you know that right?”
Jessica smile turned into a grimace. “Look here, Thai boy: I’m accustomed to getting exactly what I want, and I will stop at nothing to get a boy. Tell me—is there another girl?”
“Actually, yes. She lives in Thailand, and we’ve been together for four years. You wouldn’t want to cross her.”
Junho gave him a doubtful look. NichKhun winked; he nodded back, understanding the situation.
“Oh well. She’s in Thailand. She’ll never know.”
And now, for the ultimate bomb….
“She’s prettier than you.” NichKhun shut his eyes, grinning.
“What?!?! NichKhun Horvejkul, I’m going to make you regret the day you said that. Just you wait and see. Jessica gets what she wants, and Jessica will get you, no matter what it takes.”
She stormed off, Bom and Yuri following close behind like lost puppies.
“May I question why she was talking in third person?” Junho said, stabbing a cherry tomato.
“Maybe she thinks she’s the Incredible Hulk or something,” NichKhun said, pleased that they were on speaking terms again.
He decided to take it to the next level.
“Junho, what’s bothering you?”
He looked up from his salad. “What do you mean? I’m fine.”
“You’re not, and you know it. Is it a girl? Family stuff?”
Junho heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his perfectly-mussed hair. “Maybe.”
“You know, you never talk about your parents, or your siblings. Is there…a reason for that?”
Junho opened his mouth, closed it, and shook his head.
“I can’t do this. Not here, not now.” He pushed back his chair and left, leaving his Composition notebook behind. NichKhun couldn’t resist the urge; he picked it up and flipped it open. The first few pages were full of song lyrics, but towards the end, there were graphic pictures and names—lots and lots of names. Girl names, boy names, names of places…
NichKhun took out his own notebook and copied down everything he saw, and quickly placed the book back. It was time for him to do a bit of detective work; dig deep into Junho’s history. He just hoped he wouldn’t find something he wasn’t looking for.
**
SooYoung wiped the sweat off her forehead, hoping nobody was watching. She watched Sunny go into the auditorium and caught the door with her foot before it closed, and then went in.
She hid inside a house stage prop and watched on as Sunny wordlessly climbed up the ladder to the projection room, and plugged a flash drive into the main computer. She typed in a password and messed around with the settings before clicking enter. She unplugged the flash drive with a satisfied smirk and exited the auditorium, walking past SooYoung obliviously.
SooYoung shook her head.
“What are you up to now, Sunny?”
**
NichKhun couldn’t believe his eyes. Everything he was searching up…All this information…It didn’t add up.
Gang Heng-Yi, 1962 – Sent to live with guardians after receiving severe beatings from both her older siblngs and her mother.
Cho Gyung,2002 – Sent to boarding school after police found out about the abuse his father put him through.
And then there were orphanage names…Numbers of lawyers.
None of it made sense.
“Junho, what are you hiding?”
**
3 hours later
“Will all students please report to the auditorium immediately? All students report to the auditorium. We will have an assembly.”
Everyone shuffled into the large auditorium, calling their friends over and stretching over the seats to save spots.
WooYoung placed himself between NichKhun and SooYoung, who both looked worried. SooYoung kept looking around for someone, and NichKhun watched Junho’s every moment with intensity.
What was going on?
Principal Ha stepped up to the podium. “Silence, children. We have gathered you here for a presentation about colleges. It is mainly for the third and fourth years, but we want the younger ones to get an idea of what they want to do as well.”
The lights dimmed, and a video started. It was a blurry image of two people on a swing. The camera came into focus, and WooYoung could make out Yoona and Taec, sitting together closely and laughing about something.
“Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest,” a background voice said. “So is forbidden love. Is that why they chose it?”
SooYoung gripped WooYoung’s arm.
It cut to an image of Yoona dancing while Taec applauded her on; them singing a song together at the karaoke; and lastly, the two of them sharing a deep kiss.
“Nothing stays a secret at Seoul High.”
The lights came back on, and everybody stared at each other. SooYoung’s nails were digging into Woo’s arm. She sprung out of her seat and sprinted toward Sunny, who was sitting beside a shaken Yoona and stroking her hair.
Principal Ha looked as shocked as everyone else.
“What just happened?” he boomed into the microphone. “Whose idea of a joke is this? Who’s behind this? I demand to know!”
*
SooYoung ran up to Sunny, who was comforting Yoona.
“It’s gonna be fine,” she heard her say.
“You bitch!” she yelled, yanking Sunny up by the arm. “Why would you do something like that?”
Sunny’s eyes sparkled. “I’m sorry but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You were in here the other day doing something with the computer. What is wrong with you?” she said in a low voice, not wanting anyone to overhear—especially not Yoona.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sunny whispered. “And neither do you.”
“Oh, I’m perfectly sure I know exactly what I’m talking about.” SooYoung slapped Sunny, and without even giving her a second to recover, grabbed her by the collar and swung her to the floor, jumping on top of her.
“Let go, you freak!” Sunny was no match for SooYoung’s muscle.
“She was the closest thing I had to a sister,” SooYoung growled, shaking her. “And you just went and publicly humiliated her. Why?”
She brought her fist back to punch Sunny, but someone held onto it firmly. She whipped her head back to see WooYoung and Teacher Lee, who were both holding onto her.
“Don’t,” they both said.
Someone grabbed her by the back of her uniform and pulled her up. She was face-to-face with Principal Ha.
“I would like to see you in my office,” he said calmly, not removing his eyes from Sunny, who was glaring up at SooYoung.
Soo brushed herself off, held up her chin defiantly, and walked out with him, knowing she was really in for it. Oh well, at least it was worth it.
**
Yoona scanned the crowd for Taec, trying to hold back tears. Who would have done something like that? Who had been watching them all that time?
And what was that fight about?
Suddenly, someone embraced her from behind. She breathed in Taec’s clean smell and buried her head in his arms.
“It’s gonna be okay. It’s not that bad. At least we looked good on camera,” he said teasingly.
Jessica walked up to them and pointed an accusing finger at Yoona.
“You are not welcome in our group anymore. I knew you were gonna mess up sooner or later, which is why I already took care of a replacement, and now that you’ve publicly humiliated yourself, you can officially count yourself out. Unfortunately, we can’t rearrange the dorm rooms, so you’ll still have to sleep with us, but you should find yourself some new friends, because this is done.”
Yoona took a deep breath, contemplating between whether today was the best or worst day of her life.
**
WooYoung stared in awe as he watched SooYoung walk with Principal Ha, her head held high, a satisfied smirk on her lips. She’d pounced on Sunny so quickly and expertly; and although he didn’t know why she did it, he knew there must have been a reasonable answer to that. SooYoung was a rational girl. She wouldn’t attack for no reason.
Teacher Lee shook her head as she walked past him, muttering something about “all a waste” and “we shouldn’t even try”.
WooYoung turned around to exclaim to NichKhun about the strangeness of things, only to find him unmoved from his original spot. Woo wasn’t even sure if Nich had seen what had happened.
“This whole school is bizarre,” Junho shook his head. “It reminds me of home sometime.”
NichKhun’s head snapped up. “How so?” he asked slowly, careful to not sound too interested.
“Nothing,” Junho said, bowing his head. “I’m gonna go upstairs.”
NichKhun followed him, inspecting the back of his head closesly.
WooYoung shook his head and went after them. Something weird was definitely going on with everybody, but he was out of the loop, as usual.
“Slow down,” his brother warned, taking his chopsticks away from him and devouring his sushi. “You don’t need this food. All the fat goes to your cheeks, anyways.”
For the first time since he’d come to Seoul High, WooYoung had used his free period to meet up with his family. He had mixed feelings about it: guilt for not doing so sooner, happiness because he’d missed his brother so much, and anxiety, because he knew that his brother was going to ask about Dara.
“Hyung*, do you have a girlfriend?”
*(older) brother
“Wouldn’t you know if I had one, moron?”
“Well, it’s not like you have to share your private life with me, you know.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t. Too busy.”
“With what? Zelda?”
“Yes, actually. The new one came out, have you heard? I’m buying it tomorrow. But don’t tell mom.”
“As if.”
“So, now, for the much anticipated question: How is your love life?”
“Sucky, thanks for mentioning it.”
“Did you take my advice?”
“Well, kinda.”
WooYoung filled him in on everything that had happened in the past four weeks, including his sneaking out, the big fight in H.O.D class, and everything else.
“Wow,” his brother pushed the sleeves of his blazer back and leaned back in his chair. “That’s quite a dilemma you’ve got there. You know what I say? Try to concentrate a bit more on your friends. It seems like Nich and Junho are going through a rough time as well, and if you focus on them, it might actually get you somewhere. Besides, bros before hos, remember?”
“Yeah, you’re right. There’s definitely something fishy going on with Junho. I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not girl-related.”
“Good for you. Hey, isn’t that Eunhyuk headed over here? Holy hell, it is. I haven’t seen him in forever.”
WooYoung grinned. He loved his brother’s friends. They were, to simply put it, awesome: amazingly talented, good-looking, and friendly. They got along with everybody and although they didn’t game intensely like Woo’s brother, they were pretty into StarCraft too.
“Yo,” Eunhyuk plopped down next to WooYoung. “How’s it goin’, little one? Heard you got into that fancy-shmancy school. Any hot chicks over there?”
“Some.”
“Woo’s got one, but she’s a bit crazy. She doesn’t like him. Look at him. Who wouldn’t like those chubby cheeks, that charismatic smile, the button nose?” His brother said, pinching his cheeks.
WooYoung rolled his eyes, causing Eunhyuk to laugh.
“Do they have good dance teachers over there?” he asked earnestly. Eunhyuk was the best dancer WooYoung had ever seen, even better than Junho or SooYoung, and he could rap up a storm. “Maybe I should come over there.”
“Bro, beware. They’ve got major drama, those third years.” His brother moved onto WooYoung’s other plate and wiped that one clean as well.
“How ‘bout the seniors? Any available girls?”
“Well…there is one,” WooYoung couldn’t help but smile. “Her name’s Yuri, and she’s totally your type. Want me to set you up with her?”
“Thanks bro. You’re the best. Oh, look who’s coming. It’s Fishy. He can’t go anywhere without me, you know.”
Donghae, his brother and Eunhyuk’s other best friend, walked over and slapped Eunhyuk on the head.
“You idiot! You just got up and left without paying the bill, and I had to wash the dishes because I didn’t have money on me. And now you’re eating again? You’re a pig, really. And you—“ he pointed at Woo’s brother, “you have the nerve to let Monkey here eat sushi without me? You really are something.”
“Don’t hate me ‘cause I’m beautiful,” his brother said, shrugging easily and eating yet another sushi roll.
WooYoung watched them goof around wistfully. He, NichKhun, and Junho hadn’t been like this for weeks. He wanted everything to go back to normal, but he didn’t know what to do.
“If only there was a reset button,” his brother said, reading his thoughts.
That comment instantly started a rap battle between Donghae and Eunhyuk, and developed into a song, with WooYoung’s brother providing the main vocals.
“Just press the reset, reset. If only you could press the reset, reset.”*
*This whole thing is a huge Super Junior reference. I urge you to do some research.
**
CL piled her long, blonde hair on her head, swiped some lip gloss on her lips, and took a deep breath before knocking on the door of the music room. When nobody answered, she slowly turned the knob and let herself in.
“G-Dragon? Are you there?
A single piano key was struck, given her the answer.
“I need to talk to you.”
G-Dragon looked up, his dark eyes rimmed with purple circles, his mouth drawn into a frown.
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to ask you something.” She came over and sat next to him on the piano bench. “Do you like Dara?”
CL wasn’t one to beat around the bush.
“She’s a good girl and everything but…no. I mean, I can’t think of her like that when she keeps trying to come onto me, you know? She doesn’t give me a chance to even sort out my thoughts.”
“Good,” CL said firmly.
Good?
“I have a proposition for you. It will guarantee keeping her off your back, I promise.”
“What is it?”
**
Suzy picked up her lunch tray and plunked down next to Taec, who was wolfing down a turkey sandwich.
“Hey, Elf Ears.”
Taec looked up.
“Hi,” he said, his mouth full.
“So, how are you?”
Taec stared at the girl, not sure how to respond.
“Ah, I’m good. I’d ask how you were, but we’re not exactly friends, and I’m sorta wondering the reason for why you’re here right now more than how you are.”
“Well, I want to change that. I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Why, though?”
“No reason. Should there be a reason, elf? It’s called being friendly, for god’s sake. Jeez.”
She got up and walked away, blowing her cheeks in and out, a habit she’d picked up from watching WooYoung.
**
On the other side of the room, NichKhun and Junho were seated at a table, awkwardly eating their lunch. Junho was eating salad with one hand, and writing in his Composition notebook with the other. NichKhun opened his mout to ask what was wrong, but a squeal drowned his voice out.
“Oppa!”
“Oh my gosh,” he muttered, burying his head in his hands. “Someone save me now.”
“Oppa, how are you? You should really eat more.”
“Jessica, go away, please.”
“Aish, but you’re really ruining all my fun. I’m giving you a free pass to be with me, and you’re passing it by. That’s really dangerous, NichKhun. You know that, right?”
Junho stared pointedly at NichKhun, waiting for him to give the right answer.
“I really don’t care, you know that right?”
Jessica smile turned into a grimace. “Look here, Thai boy: I’m accustomed to getting exactly what I want, and I will stop at nothing to get a boy. Tell me—is there another girl?”
“Actually, yes. She lives in Thailand, and we’ve been together for four years. You wouldn’t want to cross her.”
Junho gave him a doubtful look. NichKhun winked; he nodded back, understanding the situation.
“Oh well. She’s in Thailand. She’ll never know.”
And now, for the ultimate bomb….
“She’s prettier than you.” NichKhun shut his eyes, grinning.
“What?!?! NichKhun Horvejkul, I’m going to make you regret the day you said that. Just you wait and see. Jessica gets what she wants, and Jessica will get you, no matter what it takes.”
She stormed off, Bom and Yuri following close behind like lost puppies.
“May I question why she was talking in third person?” Junho said, stabbing a cherry tomato.
“Maybe she thinks she’s the Incredible Hulk or something,” NichKhun said, pleased that they were on speaking terms again.
He decided to take it to the next level.
“Junho, what’s bothering you?”
He looked up from his salad. “What do you mean? I’m fine.”
“You’re not, and you know it. Is it a girl? Family stuff?”
Junho heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his perfectly-mussed hair. “Maybe.”
“You know, you never talk about your parents, or your siblings. Is there…a reason for that?”
Junho opened his mouth, closed it, and shook his head.
“I can’t do this. Not here, not now.” He pushed back his chair and left, leaving his Composition notebook behind. NichKhun couldn’t resist the urge; he picked it up and flipped it open. The first few pages were full of song lyrics, but towards the end, there were graphic pictures and names—lots and lots of names. Girl names, boy names, names of places…
NichKhun took out his own notebook and copied down everything he saw, and quickly placed the book back. It was time for him to do a bit of detective work; dig deep into Junho’s history. He just hoped he wouldn’t find something he wasn’t looking for.
**
SooYoung wiped the sweat off her forehead, hoping nobody was watching. She watched Sunny go into the auditorium and caught the door with her foot before it closed, and then went in.
She hid inside a house stage prop and watched on as Sunny wordlessly climbed up the ladder to the projection room, and plugged a flash drive into the main computer. She typed in a password and messed around with the settings before clicking enter. She unplugged the flash drive with a satisfied smirk and exited the auditorium, walking past SooYoung obliviously.
SooYoung shook her head.
“What are you up to now, Sunny?”
**
NichKhun couldn’t believe his eyes. Everything he was searching up…All this information…It didn’t add up.
Gang Heng-Yi, 1962 – Sent to live with guardians after receiving severe beatings from both her older siblngs and her mother.
Cho Gyung,2002 – Sent to boarding school after police found out about the abuse his father put him through.
And then there were orphanage names…Numbers of lawyers.
None of it made sense.
“Junho, what are you hiding?”
**
3 hours later
“Will all students please report to the auditorium immediately? All students report to the auditorium. We will have an assembly.”
Everyone shuffled into the large auditorium, calling their friends over and stretching over the seats to save spots.
WooYoung placed himself between NichKhun and SooYoung, who both looked worried. SooYoung kept looking around for someone, and NichKhun watched Junho’s every moment with intensity.
What was going on?
Principal Ha stepped up to the podium. “Silence, children. We have gathered you here for a presentation about colleges. It is mainly for the third and fourth years, but we want the younger ones to get an idea of what they want to do as well.”
The lights dimmed, and a video started. It was a blurry image of two people on a swing. The camera came into focus, and WooYoung could make out Yoona and Taec, sitting together closely and laughing about something.
“Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest,” a background voice said. “So is forbidden love. Is that why they chose it?”
SooYoung gripped WooYoung’s arm.
It cut to an image of Yoona dancing while Taec applauded her on; them singing a song together at the karaoke; and lastly, the two of them sharing a deep kiss.
“Nothing stays a secret at Seoul High.”
The lights came back on, and everybody stared at each other. SooYoung’s nails were digging into Woo’s arm. She sprung out of her seat and sprinted toward Sunny, who was sitting beside a shaken Yoona and stroking her hair.
Principal Ha looked as shocked as everyone else.
“What just happened?” he boomed into the microphone. “Whose idea of a joke is this? Who’s behind this? I demand to know!”
*
SooYoung ran up to Sunny, who was comforting Yoona.
“It’s gonna be fine,” she heard her say.
“You bitch!” she yelled, yanking Sunny up by the arm. “Why would you do something like that?”
Sunny’s eyes sparkled. “I’m sorry but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You were in here the other day doing something with the computer. What is wrong with you?” she said in a low voice, not wanting anyone to overhear—especially not Yoona.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sunny whispered. “And neither do you.”
“Oh, I’m perfectly sure I know exactly what I’m talking about.” SooYoung slapped Sunny, and without even giving her a second to recover, grabbed her by the collar and swung her to the floor, jumping on top of her.
“Let go, you freak!” Sunny was no match for SooYoung’s muscle.
“She was the closest thing I had to a sister,” SooYoung growled, shaking her. “And you just went and publicly humiliated her. Why?”
She brought her fist back to punch Sunny, but someone held onto it firmly. She whipped her head back to see WooYoung and Teacher Lee, who were both holding onto her.
“Don’t,” they both said.
Someone grabbed her by the back of her uniform and pulled her up. She was face-to-face with Principal Ha.
“I would like to see you in my office,” he said calmly, not removing his eyes from Sunny, who was glaring up at SooYoung.
Soo brushed herself off, held up her chin defiantly, and walked out with him, knowing she was really in for it. Oh well, at least it was worth it.
**
Yoona scanned the crowd for Taec, trying to hold back tears. Who would have done something like that? Who had been watching them all that time?
And what was that fight about?
Suddenly, someone embraced her from behind. She breathed in Taec’s clean smell and buried her head in his arms.
“It’s gonna be okay. It’s not that bad. At least we looked good on camera,” he said teasingly.
Jessica walked up to them and pointed an accusing finger at Yoona.
“You are not welcome in our group anymore. I knew you were gonna mess up sooner or later, which is why I already took care of a replacement, and now that you’ve publicly humiliated yourself, you can officially count yourself out. Unfortunately, we can’t rearrange the dorm rooms, so you’ll still have to sleep with us, but you should find yourself some new friends, because this is done.”
Yoona took a deep breath, contemplating between whether today was the best or worst day of her life.
**
WooYoung stared in awe as he watched SooYoung walk with Principal Ha, her head held high, a satisfied smirk on her lips. She’d pounced on Sunny so quickly and expertly; and although he didn’t know why she did it, he knew there must have been a reasonable answer to that. SooYoung was a rational girl. She wouldn’t attack for no reason.
Teacher Lee shook her head as she walked past him, muttering something about “all a waste” and “we shouldn’t even try”.
WooYoung turned around to exclaim to NichKhun about the strangeness of things, only to find him unmoved from his original spot. Woo wasn’t even sure if Nich had seen what had happened.
“This whole school is bizarre,” Junho shook his head. “It reminds me of home sometime.”
NichKhun’s head snapped up. “How so?” he asked slowly, careful to not sound too interested.
“Nothing,” Junho said, bowing his head. “I’m gonna go upstairs.”
NichKhun followed him, inspecting the back of his head closesly.
WooYoung shook his head and went after them. Something weird was definitely going on with everybody, but he was out of the loop, as usual.
Sunny and Seungri sat together at a table, a plate of dumplings between them. Seungri was furiously scribbling in his black notebook, his dark eyebrows pulled together.
“I just don’t get it,” he mumbled. “Why do they even do this? Somehow, they’ve dragged me into it as well. It’s all Daesung’s fault, actually. If he wasn’t so into Minzy, he’d never involve me in it. I don’t want to be part of their drama! All I want is to finish this piece. Mom needs the money as quickly as possible.”
Sunny nodded, not knowing what to say. The whole History of Dance class had ended up being punished for their “rude actions” after Teacher Cho called Teacher Lee and complained about the noise they were making. People like Seungri, who hadn’t even been involved in the whole big fight, had been victims.
“I’m sorry. Do you…need anything?”
Seungri lifted his head, his eyes full of concern. “No. I think I’m gonna go outside. If I don’t send this article by tomorrow, I won’t get the money. That’s not an option.” He heaved a sigh, got up, and left.
Sunny watched him walk away, a frown on her face. Here was a person with actual problems, unlike the ones her friends liked to create. Seungri’s family was poor, and although nobody but his cousin Daesung knew, he was a scholarship student. Every week, he wrote articles for a newspaper company and got money for it. He didn’t want anyone to know, so he was published as ‘anonymous’. He sent every cent he got to his mom and two little sisters.
She fiddled with her fork, staring at the untouched dumplings. The fight had been bad. There hadn’t been one person in the room who wasn’t yelling at another. Sunny had had no idea what to do, and had refrained from joining. Had she done the right thing?
“Hey Sunny!”
Sunny was surprised to see WooYoung walking toward her. They usually didn’t talk, although Sunny did want to be his friend.
“Have you seen SooYoung?”
Sunny’s face fell.
“She’s by the desserts,” she mumbled, pointing.
“Thanks. Hey, you wanna come with me? SooYoung and I are gonna practice for dance class.”
Sunny’s eyes brightened.
“I’d love to!”
**
Yoona stared at her fingers as Taec pushed the swing they were on back and forth with his big feet.
“So Yoo,” he said, easily, inching closer to her. “What do you like doing in your spare time?”
“Me? Oh, I never have spare time. You’re a senior too, you should know!”
“Okay, so what do you do with the girls?”
“They shop; get their hair and nails done, you know, girl stuff.”
“But what do you do?”
“Ya, why do you keep pressing the issue? I don’t do anything!”
“Maybe you should,” Taec said quietly. “Do you even know what you wanna be?”
“Sure. I’ll be a model.”
“But do you like modeling?”
“I…don’t know. I’ve never tried.”
Taec stopped the swing.
“Yoona, you and I are going on an exploration to find your true passion. And maybe, along the way, we’ll discover your personality as well.”
Yoona sighed and shook her head. “It’s about time, anyway.”
They hopped off the swing and walked away, chatting easily. They were both so caught up in each other that they didn’t notice someone watching them from behind an oak tree.
**
SooYoung’s long hair flew around her as she spun and twirled to the beat of the song that their friend, Taeyang, had composed.
“Hold on!” Shouted WooYoung, looking up from his cellphone. She and Sunny stopped, and SooYoung took the opportunity to pull out a hair band and tie her hair back.
“Uh, girls, sorry to cut the practice in half, but, um, my mom wants to, uh, videochat. I think I’ll just—“
“Can we meet your mom, too?” Sunny asked excitedly.
SooYoung elbowed her.
“Sure. But beware: She’s very emotional.”
About fifteen minutes later, the three of them were crowded around WooYoung’s laptop, peering closely into the webcam. When WooYoung’s mother saw them, the first thing she did was burst into tears.
“WooYoungie, you’ve grown so much in two months! Oh my gosh, my little boy!”
And then she stared at the two girls. “So, which one of you is his girlfriend?”
“Ma!” WooYoung buried his head in his hands.
“Is it you?” she asked Sunny, who shook her head from side to side, giggling.
“You?” SooYoung pointed at herself as if to say ‘me?’. She shook her head firmly, her cheeks turning crimson.
“He’s too lame to have a girlfriend,” came a deep voice from the background. A boy was playing Halo on the computer behind his mom. SooYoung couldn’t make out his face, since it was turned away from them, but she guessed him to be in his late teens. Was that WooYoung’s infamou--
“Hey bro.”
“Hey loser,” he didn’t even look up from his game as he expertly lifted a hand in a sign of greeting. SooYoung was impressed.
WooYoung’s mother interrogated them for an hour, asking if they got enough vitamin, wore clean underwear, etc. SooYoung tried her very best to pay attention, but her eyes kept sliding to the other boy’s monitor. His playing was so good and SooYoung loved Halo. If only she could go over there and--
“Well, I guess I can’t keep you kids any longer. Take care.”
“Anyo!” The three of them bowed at the webcam, and WooYoung closed his laptop.
“Sorry about that.”
“No problem. She seems like a nice person,” Sunny said quickly, trying her best to please WooYoung. SooYoung resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Before she could say anything, the doors burst open and Dara came in with G-Dragon, giggling like a little schoolgirl. G-Dragon looked uncomfortable, to say the least. He’d been acting weird around everyone and keeping his distance since the final.
“Oh,” Dara stared at the three of them innocently. “We didn’t know you were in here. We were just gonna practice for dance.”
“Yeah, well, the classroom’s full, so I think I’ll leave,” G-Dragon said, slipping his hand out of hers and turning away.
Dara pouted. “Kiwon!” She shouted, using his real name. “Don’t go! We can study here. WooYoung doesn’t mind, does he?”
“Um, we’re here, too, and to be quite honest, although we don’t mind, it seems like Kiwon doesn’t really want to dance right now,” SooYoung stared at Sunny as if snakes were coming out of her eyes. When had she become so confident and…bitchy?
WooYoung and Dara seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“Gee, I never thought you knew how to stand up for yourself, Sunny,” Dara said, stepping forward. G-Dragon shook his head and left the room, and WooYoung nodded at Soo and followed him. The atmosphere had quickly turned to one similar to the one in History of Dance the other day. There was tension everywhere.
“I never thought you were the kind of girl that desperately followed boys, even when they made it clear that they didn’t wanna be with you, but I guess we both don’t know each other very well, do we?” Sunny was just inches away from Dara now, grateful that Yuri had made her wear three-inch heels that morning.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” SooYoung stepped between them. “We’ve already gotten punished, there’s no need to push this further. Dara—we were already leaving. You can practice as much as you want. Sunny, c’mere.”
She pulled Sunny by the arm.
“Let go!”
“What has gotten into you?” SooYoung yelled as soon as they were outside. “One minute you’re all cute and nice, the next you’re a complete bitch. What are you doing? What’s the point that you’re trying to prove here?”
“You don’t understand anything,” Sunny said, yanking her arm away. She walked away as fast as she could, trying her best not to hobble in her heels.
SooYoung watched her strut away in awe. That fight has sparked something inside of everyone.
**
WooYoung followed G-Dragon as he ran down the hallway.
“Hey! GD! Wait up!”
He rounded a corner and saw that the blonde was nowhere to be found. There was only the balcony door on this floor, and WooYoung didn’t hesitate to fling it open. G-Dragon was standing there, along with…NichKhun?
“Hey,” WooYoung said awkwardly, feeling like an intruder. “Uh, I wanted to talk to you.”
NichKhun stiffened. “I’ll leave.”
“Nah, stay,” G-Dragon held him back.
There was a pregnant silence.
“You know what?” WooYoung said suddenly. “This is extremely awkward. Everyone’s been awkward since the finals. Whatever problem we have, we need to settle it now.”
“Okay,” NichKhun said, looking unamused. “I’ll point out all the problems, and you’ll fix the, won’t you, Woo? The first problem is Dara.”
G-Dragon pulled back and scratched his head, looking away.
“You like Dara—“
“You do?” GD asked, staring at Woo disbelievingly. “I never knew that.”
“It’s beyond obvious,” NichKhun muttered. “Anyways, you like her, she likes GD, and GD doesn’t give a flying fuck. Now, how are you gonna resolve this, WooYoung? Enlighten us.”
“I…”
“Yeah, you can’t. It’s called life. It’s painful, but we’re forced to go through it. Second issue: everyone hates everyone, because apparently we’re all just a bunch of pricks who don’t even care about the anyone else beside ourselves.”
“And thirdly,” G-Dragon said, “We all judge each other without knowing one another’s lives.” He gave NichKhun a sideways glance, which he ignored.
“But how do we fix this?” WooYoung asked, his cheeks blowing up.
“We can’t,” NichKhun said sadly. “We just have to go with the flow. Everything will eventually fix itself. Or not. All’s for the best.”
“Are we…okay now?”
“Yeah, I guess. It’s just…don’t stray away too far, please. Sometimes, when I need you most, I can never find you because you’re always out and about.”
“NichKhun…Are you okay?” WooYoung asked, stepping closer. “You’ve been acting weirder than ever.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”
“No he’s not,” G-Dragon shook his blonde mane. “Tell him.”
“No.”
“He’s your best friend.”
“That’s why I won’t! I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Ah, I’m still here. But I’ll leave. It seems like you two seem like you have something to discuss,” WooYoung smiled, bowed, and left.
Khun shook his head. This was the problem with WooYoung: he was too nice. If anyone else had said that, it would’ve sounded rude, but Woo was completely sincere and he wasn’t trying to offend them. He was too kind.
**
Taec tried not to stare at Yoona as she danced, but he couldn’t resist. She was good. Not the best, but good. And she had a nice bod--
Okay.
The music stopped and Yoona walked toward him.
“How was I?” She undid her bun and let her long hair fall to her shoulders.
“Wow, Yoo, you should leave your hair out more often.”
Yoona blushed. “I had fun, but I don’t really think dancing is my passion. I mean, I don’t get an adrenaline high like SooYoung when I dance. Same with singing. It’s fun and everything, but I don’t get that spark you were talking about when you rap or work out.”
“Well then, I know what we can do next…”
Half an hour later, they were in the seniors’ room, trying to convince CL and Junsu that they’d take care of their cameras.
“If anything happens to it, I’ll kill you,” CL growled. “Film Production is my best class, and I can’t pass it without my camera!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Taec said, lightly punching her. “Chill. We’re responsible adults, right Yoo?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Well, Yoo, now that we’ve got a camera and a script, courtesy of Junsu, do you think you’re gonna be able to do this?”
“Sure! I have a feeling I’m gonna like this.”
For two hours, Taec filmed Yoona act out a short film, playing all the parts. She was really, really good, and Taec didn’t hesitate in telling her so.
“Really? I had so much fun. And I felt the adrenaline! Taec, I think acting’s the thing for me!” She jumped into his arms, and he held her tight, breathing in her mixed scent of washing detergent, violets, and lilacs.
He didn’t want to let go, so he hesitated when she pulled back slightly.
“So…what now?” She asked quietly.
Taec pushed a piece of flyaway hair behind her ear. “I think it’s high time we discovered you.”
With that, he tilted her chin upwards and pulled her towards him, kissing her strongly as the same person from earlier watched on.
**
Junho pulled away from the balcony door, wishing he hadn’t followed WooYoung to see what the fuss was about. Once again, they’d neglected to include him in the conversation. And what was so big that NichKhun couldn’t tell them, but could go share it with that G-Dragon kid?
Was it as big as his secret, or possibly, worse?
He just kept getting more and more hurt by his friends’ actions
He heard approaching footsteps and ran away before anyone could discover him eavesdropping.
**
“Girls, I have an announcement!”
Yuri, SooYoung, and Sunny looked up from what they were doing and stared at Jessica, who was beaming.
“We have an addition to our group. Say hello to Park Bom! She’s recently started dating T.O.P., who is undoubtedly one of the hottest guys in the fourth year, and I saw it fit for her to join us. Introduce yourself.”
“I’ve never heard of T.O.P.,” Sunny said, scrunching up her face.
“You know that sullen but super-cute kid that walks around quietly all the time?” Yuri said. “That’s him.”
“You haven’t heard of him because you’re one of those third years who have low standards, like SooYoung with her Woobsession,” Jessica said.
SooYoung rolled her eyes and didn’t even bother to fight back. “You’re a third year too, smart one. Only Yuri and Yoona are seniors.”
“Speaking of, where’s Yoona?” Sunny asked, her eyes gleaming.
SooYoung shot her a “don’t-start-anything” look, which she took no notice of.
“Wasn’t she supposed to come back from the gym half an hour ago? Hmm…Suspicious…” Sunny continued, grinning wickedly.
“Maybe she’s with a friend. Why’s it any of our business?” SooYoung stared long and hard at Sunny, making it very clear that she’d pay for this.
“Probably with Taec,” Yuri said, stretching.
Jessica’s mouth was set in a straight line. “We’ll deal with that later. Now, Bom, you’ll sleep on the top bunk, and in fifteen minutes, Yuri and I are going through your clothes for an inspection. If you’re gonna hang with us, you gotta look like us.”
Bom shook her head, her long red hair flowing.
“Also, the eyeliner’s gotta go. You look like a kindergartener tried to color on your eyes with a crayon.”
SooYoung smiled at Bom sympathetically, wishing her the best of luck with her eyes.
It wasn’t easy to get in their group, but it was much harder to stay in.
“I just don’t get it,” he mumbled. “Why do they even do this? Somehow, they’ve dragged me into it as well. It’s all Daesung’s fault, actually. If he wasn’t so into Minzy, he’d never involve me in it. I don’t want to be part of their drama! All I want is to finish this piece. Mom needs the money as quickly as possible.”
Sunny nodded, not knowing what to say. The whole History of Dance class had ended up being punished for their “rude actions” after Teacher Cho called Teacher Lee and complained about the noise they were making. People like Seungri, who hadn’t even been involved in the whole big fight, had been victims.
“I’m sorry. Do you…need anything?”
Seungri lifted his head, his eyes full of concern. “No. I think I’m gonna go outside. If I don’t send this article by tomorrow, I won’t get the money. That’s not an option.” He heaved a sigh, got up, and left.
Sunny watched him walk away, a frown on her face. Here was a person with actual problems, unlike the ones her friends liked to create. Seungri’s family was poor, and although nobody but his cousin Daesung knew, he was a scholarship student. Every week, he wrote articles for a newspaper company and got money for it. He didn’t want anyone to know, so he was published as ‘anonymous’. He sent every cent he got to his mom and two little sisters.
She fiddled with her fork, staring at the untouched dumplings. The fight had been bad. There hadn’t been one person in the room who wasn’t yelling at another. Sunny had had no idea what to do, and had refrained from joining. Had she done the right thing?
“Hey Sunny!”
Sunny was surprised to see WooYoung walking toward her. They usually didn’t talk, although Sunny did want to be his friend.
“Have you seen SooYoung?”
Sunny’s face fell.
“She’s by the desserts,” she mumbled, pointing.
“Thanks. Hey, you wanna come with me? SooYoung and I are gonna practice for dance class.”
Sunny’s eyes brightened.
“I’d love to!”
**
Yoona stared at her fingers as Taec pushed the swing they were on back and forth with his big feet.
“So Yoo,” he said, easily, inching closer to her. “What do you like doing in your spare time?”
“Me? Oh, I never have spare time. You’re a senior too, you should know!”
“Okay, so what do you do with the girls?”
“They shop; get their hair and nails done, you know, girl stuff.”
“But what do you do?”
“Ya, why do you keep pressing the issue? I don’t do anything!”
“Maybe you should,” Taec said quietly. “Do you even know what you wanna be?”
“Sure. I’ll be a model.”
“But do you like modeling?”
“I…don’t know. I’ve never tried.”
Taec stopped the swing.
“Yoona, you and I are going on an exploration to find your true passion. And maybe, along the way, we’ll discover your personality as well.”
Yoona sighed and shook her head. “It’s about time, anyway.”
They hopped off the swing and walked away, chatting easily. They were both so caught up in each other that they didn’t notice someone watching them from behind an oak tree.
**
SooYoung’s long hair flew around her as she spun and twirled to the beat of the song that their friend, Taeyang, had composed.
“Hold on!” Shouted WooYoung, looking up from his cellphone. She and Sunny stopped, and SooYoung took the opportunity to pull out a hair band and tie her hair back.
“Uh, girls, sorry to cut the practice in half, but, um, my mom wants to, uh, videochat. I think I’ll just—“
“Can we meet your mom, too?” Sunny asked excitedly.
SooYoung elbowed her.
“Sure. But beware: She’s very emotional.”
About fifteen minutes later, the three of them were crowded around WooYoung’s laptop, peering closely into the webcam. When WooYoung’s mother saw them, the first thing she did was burst into tears.
“WooYoungie, you’ve grown so much in two months! Oh my gosh, my little boy!”
And then she stared at the two girls. “So, which one of you is his girlfriend?”
“Ma!” WooYoung buried his head in his hands.
“Is it you?” she asked Sunny, who shook her head from side to side, giggling.
“You?” SooYoung pointed at herself as if to say ‘me?’. She shook her head firmly, her cheeks turning crimson.
“He’s too lame to have a girlfriend,” came a deep voice from the background. A boy was playing Halo on the computer behind his mom. SooYoung couldn’t make out his face, since it was turned away from them, but she guessed him to be in his late teens. Was that WooYoung’s infamou--
“Hey bro.”
“Hey loser,” he didn’t even look up from his game as he expertly lifted a hand in a sign of greeting. SooYoung was impressed.
WooYoung’s mother interrogated them for an hour, asking if they got enough vitamin, wore clean underwear, etc. SooYoung tried her very best to pay attention, but her eyes kept sliding to the other boy’s monitor. His playing was so good and SooYoung loved Halo. If only she could go over there and--
“Well, I guess I can’t keep you kids any longer. Take care.”
“Anyo!” The three of them bowed at the webcam, and WooYoung closed his laptop.
“Sorry about that.”
“No problem. She seems like a nice person,” Sunny said quickly, trying her best to please WooYoung. SooYoung resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Before she could say anything, the doors burst open and Dara came in with G-Dragon, giggling like a little schoolgirl. G-Dragon looked uncomfortable, to say the least. He’d been acting weird around everyone and keeping his distance since the final.
“Oh,” Dara stared at the three of them innocently. “We didn’t know you were in here. We were just gonna practice for dance.”
“Yeah, well, the classroom’s full, so I think I’ll leave,” G-Dragon said, slipping his hand out of hers and turning away.
Dara pouted. “Kiwon!” She shouted, using his real name. “Don’t go! We can study here. WooYoung doesn’t mind, does he?”
“Um, we’re here, too, and to be quite honest, although we don’t mind, it seems like Kiwon doesn’t really want to dance right now,” SooYoung stared at Sunny as if snakes were coming out of her eyes. When had she become so confident and…bitchy?
WooYoung and Dara seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“Gee, I never thought you knew how to stand up for yourself, Sunny,” Dara said, stepping forward. G-Dragon shook his head and left the room, and WooYoung nodded at Soo and followed him. The atmosphere had quickly turned to one similar to the one in History of Dance the other day. There was tension everywhere.
“I never thought you were the kind of girl that desperately followed boys, even when they made it clear that they didn’t wanna be with you, but I guess we both don’t know each other very well, do we?” Sunny was just inches away from Dara now, grateful that Yuri had made her wear three-inch heels that morning.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” SooYoung stepped between them. “We’ve already gotten punished, there’s no need to push this further. Dara—we were already leaving. You can practice as much as you want. Sunny, c’mere.”
She pulled Sunny by the arm.
“Let go!”
“What has gotten into you?” SooYoung yelled as soon as they were outside. “One minute you’re all cute and nice, the next you’re a complete bitch. What are you doing? What’s the point that you’re trying to prove here?”
“You don’t understand anything,” Sunny said, yanking her arm away. She walked away as fast as she could, trying her best not to hobble in her heels.
SooYoung watched her strut away in awe. That fight has sparked something inside of everyone.
**
WooYoung followed G-Dragon as he ran down the hallway.
“Hey! GD! Wait up!”
He rounded a corner and saw that the blonde was nowhere to be found. There was only the balcony door on this floor, and WooYoung didn’t hesitate to fling it open. G-Dragon was standing there, along with…NichKhun?
“Hey,” WooYoung said awkwardly, feeling like an intruder. “Uh, I wanted to talk to you.”
NichKhun stiffened. “I’ll leave.”
“Nah, stay,” G-Dragon held him back.
There was a pregnant silence.
“You know what?” WooYoung said suddenly. “This is extremely awkward. Everyone’s been awkward since the finals. Whatever problem we have, we need to settle it now.”
“Okay,” NichKhun said, looking unamused. “I’ll point out all the problems, and you’ll fix the, won’t you, Woo? The first problem is Dara.”
G-Dragon pulled back and scratched his head, looking away.
“You like Dara—“
“You do?” GD asked, staring at Woo disbelievingly. “I never knew that.”
“It’s beyond obvious,” NichKhun muttered. “Anyways, you like her, she likes GD, and GD doesn’t give a flying fuck. Now, how are you gonna resolve this, WooYoung? Enlighten us.”
“I…”
“Yeah, you can’t. It’s called life. It’s painful, but we’re forced to go through it. Second issue: everyone hates everyone, because apparently we’re all just a bunch of pricks who don’t even care about the anyone else beside ourselves.”
“And thirdly,” G-Dragon said, “We all judge each other without knowing one another’s lives.” He gave NichKhun a sideways glance, which he ignored.
“But how do we fix this?” WooYoung asked, his cheeks blowing up.
“We can’t,” NichKhun said sadly. “We just have to go with the flow. Everything will eventually fix itself. Or not. All’s for the best.”
“Are we…okay now?”
“Yeah, I guess. It’s just…don’t stray away too far, please. Sometimes, when I need you most, I can never find you because you’re always out and about.”
“NichKhun…Are you okay?” WooYoung asked, stepping closer. “You’ve been acting weirder than ever.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”
“No he’s not,” G-Dragon shook his blonde mane. “Tell him.”
“No.”
“He’s your best friend.”
“That’s why I won’t! I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Ah, I’m still here. But I’ll leave. It seems like you two seem like you have something to discuss,” WooYoung smiled, bowed, and left.
Khun shook his head. This was the problem with WooYoung: he was too nice. If anyone else had said that, it would’ve sounded rude, but Woo was completely sincere and he wasn’t trying to offend them. He was too kind.
**
Taec tried not to stare at Yoona as she danced, but he couldn’t resist. She was good. Not the best, but good. And she had a nice bod--
Okay.
The music stopped and Yoona walked toward him.
“How was I?” She undid her bun and let her long hair fall to her shoulders.
“Wow, Yoo, you should leave your hair out more often.”
Yoona blushed. “I had fun, but I don’t really think dancing is my passion. I mean, I don’t get an adrenaline high like SooYoung when I dance. Same with singing. It’s fun and everything, but I don’t get that spark you were talking about when you rap or work out.”
“Well then, I know what we can do next…”
Half an hour later, they were in the seniors’ room, trying to convince CL and Junsu that they’d take care of their cameras.
“If anything happens to it, I’ll kill you,” CL growled. “Film Production is my best class, and I can’t pass it without my camera!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Taec said, lightly punching her. “Chill. We’re responsible adults, right Yoo?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Well, Yoo, now that we’ve got a camera and a script, courtesy of Junsu, do you think you’re gonna be able to do this?”
“Sure! I have a feeling I’m gonna like this.”
For two hours, Taec filmed Yoona act out a short film, playing all the parts. She was really, really good, and Taec didn’t hesitate in telling her so.
“Really? I had so much fun. And I felt the adrenaline! Taec, I think acting’s the thing for me!” She jumped into his arms, and he held her tight, breathing in her mixed scent of washing detergent, violets, and lilacs.
He didn’t want to let go, so he hesitated when she pulled back slightly.
“So…what now?” She asked quietly.
Taec pushed a piece of flyaway hair behind her ear. “I think it’s high time we discovered you.”
With that, he tilted her chin upwards and pulled her towards him, kissing her strongly as the same person from earlier watched on.
**
Junho pulled away from the balcony door, wishing he hadn’t followed WooYoung to see what the fuss was about. Once again, they’d neglected to include him in the conversation. And what was so big that NichKhun couldn’t tell them, but could go share it with that G-Dragon kid?
Was it as big as his secret, or possibly, worse?
He just kept getting more and more hurt by his friends’ actions
He heard approaching footsteps and ran away before anyone could discover him eavesdropping.
**
“Girls, I have an announcement!”
Yuri, SooYoung, and Sunny looked up from what they were doing and stared at Jessica, who was beaming.
“We have an addition to our group. Say hello to Park Bom! She’s recently started dating T.O.P., who is undoubtedly one of the hottest guys in the fourth year, and I saw it fit for her to join us. Introduce yourself.”
“I’ve never heard of T.O.P.,” Sunny said, scrunching up her face.
“You know that sullen but super-cute kid that walks around quietly all the time?” Yuri said. “That’s him.”
“You haven’t heard of him because you’re one of those third years who have low standards, like SooYoung with her Woobsession,” Jessica said.
SooYoung rolled her eyes and didn’t even bother to fight back. “You’re a third year too, smart one. Only Yuri and Yoona are seniors.”
“Speaking of, where’s Yoona?” Sunny asked, her eyes gleaming.
SooYoung shot her a “don’t-start-anything” look, which she took no notice of.
“Wasn’t she supposed to come back from the gym half an hour ago? Hmm…Suspicious…” Sunny continued, grinning wickedly.
“Maybe she’s with a friend. Why’s it any of our business?” SooYoung stared long and hard at Sunny, making it very clear that she’d pay for this.
“Probably with Taec,” Yuri said, stretching.
Jessica’s mouth was set in a straight line. “We’ll deal with that later. Now, Bom, you’ll sleep on the top bunk, and in fifteen minutes, Yuri and I are going through your clothes for an inspection. If you’re gonna hang with us, you gotta look like us.”
Bom shook her head, her long red hair flowing.
“Also, the eyeliner’s gotta go. You look like a kindergartener tried to color on your eyes with a crayon.”
SooYoung smiled at Bom sympathetically, wishing her the best of luck with her eyes.
It wasn’t easy to get in their group, but it was much harder to stay in.
WooYoung stared at his blinking laptop screen, waiting for it to give him a sign of what he should do next, when he felt someone watching him. He slowly turned around, hoping it wasn’t SooYoung. He was relieved, and a bit confused, to find Teacher Lee instead.
“Shouldn’t you be practicing for your final? You only have five days, you know.”
“Yes, but…I’m a bit confused and frustrated about something. I wanted to clear my brain before I started rehearsing. It’s never good to dance without an empty mind.”
“True, true. What’s bothering you? Is it family? A girl?”
WooYoung cocked his head to the side. He knew he could trust Teacher Lee, but he himself didn’t know how, exactly, he was feeling. Would he be able to put it in words for someone else?
“Maybe. I mean, I don’t know. I have a friend who might like someone, but I think it’s dangerous.”
“And why are you interfering? If you really want her to be safe, let her fall flat on her face. That’s how you learn.”
“But—“
“You care for her. Yes, I know. It’s typical. You teenagers are all the same; you have no originality. No offense. Just let her choose her own path. She’ll come around eventually.” With that, she got up to leave.
“Teacher Lee?”
“Hmm?”
“Is it true that you were raised in America.”
“What do you think?”
It sure would explain a lot.
Woo stared at his computer once again. Who could he turn to for help in a situation like this?
He took out his cellphone and pressed one.
Hopefully his bro--
“Hello?”
“Uh, hey hyung. What’s going on over there?”
“It’s been a while since you called. I was beginning to worry about you. Mom’s going crazy. She cries every day. You’d think she’d have her hands full with three other kids, but no, her little Woo is probably all hungry and losing weight over at that school. Oh, how hard they make you work over there, according to her. Me? I say you’re probably having the time of your life. No mom, no annoying siblings, and more than enough time to play StarCraft.”
WooYoung smirked. His older brother’s obsession with videogames hadn’t decreased one bit.
“So why’d you call? Something happen?”
“Well…yeah. I have a friend that—“
“Girl or boy?”
“Girl?”
“Why are you so uncertain of her gender? Is she…you know…?”
“No. Just…don’t judge, okay?”
“Let me guess—you like her, she likes someone else, you don’t like the person she likes, and none of you get what you want. Am I correct?”
“How did you—“
“Been there, done that. It’s always the same old story. Lemme just say that every story doesn’t have the same ending, although it may follow a similar plotline. Sometimes you’ll get a happy ending, and sometimes…you won’t. Is she pretty?”
“Yeah. But…listen. I don’t even know if I like her. She’s my best friend. What if I just want to make myself believe that I like her because that’s the way it always is?”
“Good point. How do you feel around her?”
“Like…I dunno. Like myself?”
“That’s good. Look, as your older brother, I’m supposed to give you amazing advice, but I think you shouldn’t try to speed things up. I know it’s hard, but if she likes someone else, you can’t force her to stop liking him. You’ve just gotta go with it. You can try dating other girls, but I say that’s a flop. I don’t believe in jealousy, and I don’t believe in one-timers. If you’re gonna love someone, do it right. Don’t mess up. Life isn’t a fairytale. I don’t want reality to slap you in the face one day, so I’m doing it myself.”
“Thanks hyung. This really helped, actually. Tell mom I really liked the fried meat-and-rice she sent me, although it wasn’t necessary; we do have food here, you know. And tell me if you ever pass Level 45. Not that you will or anything.”
WooYoung closed the phone before his brother could protest, smiling to himself.
Thank god he wasn’t the oldest child. It was so much work.
**
NichKhun and Junho sat at a table, their heads bent over WooYoung’s Composing notebook. It was full of absurd lyrics:
Do you ever think, I’ll be the one, for anyone?
Will the stars ever align themselves for me?
Will I ever be the one, the only one, for anyone?
“This is nonsense,” NichKhun spat out, shaking his head in disgust. “It almost sounds…”
“Gay,” Junho sniffed. “Is he in love or something? You still haven’t told me what’s going on. You don’t expect me to cluelessly stare on as I watch you make weird faces and say random things to Woo, do you?”
“I thought that you, Captain Obvious, would’ve figured it out by now: He likes Dara.”
“Well…that’s an interesting assumption. Are you sure, though? I don’t like jumping to conclusions. Assuming things can make you look like a complete ass at times.”
NichKhun stared at Junho. There he goes, defending WooYoung again. Would he ever do that for me?
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I mean, he practically said it the other day.”
“Just…don’t make him feel uncomfortable. Don’t press him about it, or he’ll blow. Trust me, I know. My sister’s like that.”
Just then, WooYoung walked into the cafeteria, smiling as he talked into his phone.
“Who’s he talking to?”
“His brother, most likely.”
NichKhun felt inexplicable envy towards this brother. He wanted to have WooYoung’s attention. All of it. He felt as though he deserved it, although he hadn’t particularly done anything for it. It frustrated him so much that he didn’t have anyone that knew everything about him; that he could share all his secrets with.
But…wait…He’d completely forgotten about G-Dragon. He’d played the whole thing so coolly that NichKhun had failed to remember that he knew about the…thing. He slowly got up and ruffled his hair, which stood up on its burnt orange ends.
“I…I’m gonna…I have to leave,” Junho looked up from the notebook, a surprised look on his face.
“Uh…okay. Sure.”
“See you…later.”
NichKhun shook his head and walked away as quickly as his feet would take him. What would they think if they knew his secret? Would they ever look at him the same way? Nich highly doubted it. He didn’t have any regrets about telling someone, but he was having second thoughts about choosing GD; not particularly because he’d tell more than the fact that WooYoung, whom he considered to be his closest friend, despised him, despite his overexaggerated denial of the obvious fact.
He went straight up to the balcony, knowing that GD would be there.
**
Yoona stroked her pillow over and over, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill over and ruin the foundation that she’d let Yuri apply on her. Her fingers were shaking, and she could feel the hiccups beginning at the bottom of her stomach.
Why did she always agree to stupid things? She wasn’t stupid, and she knew it, so why did she act so defenseless? It was her fault that she was in this position, not anyone else’s.
There was a soft knock on the door. Yoona buried her face in the pillow. A more forceful knock followed.
“Ya, unnie, open the door, or I’ll break it!”
Yoona wiped her face and got up to open the door.
“Hey SooYoung.”
“Don’t ‘hey SooYoung’ me. I’m headed over to beat the literal crap out of Yuri and Jessica, and wanted to stop by to ask if you’d like to give them a last message.”
“No, no, no. You can’t do that. Sit down.”
“No! I’ll do what you never do! I should’ve done it a long time ago, anyways. You know that.”
Yoona couldn’t deny that SooYoung was…a bit of a tomboy. She was breathtakingly gorgeous, but she spent all her time watching sports, playing videogames, and gorging herself on fifty too many kim baps. When she wasn’t doing that, she was dancing.
“Yeah, but…I mean, you’re an amazing person. We love hanging out with you!”
“Are you sure Jess and Yuri aren’t just hanging out with me because they think I’m pretty? Most of the time, they ignore me, because everything I do is irrelevant to them and their meaningless, Americanized lives. Anyways, that’s not important right now. Those girls completely embarrassed you in front of Taec! Aren’t you mad? Infuriated? Don’t you want to punch them? Why are you so damn calm?” SooYoung tugged at her long hair, her eyebrows pulled together.
Actually, Yoona wasn’t angry. She was just hurt. Why Jessica and Yuri made her up and told her to go wait in front of Taec’s room, only to have him open the door to get out half an hour later and see her, was beyond her. She’d never done anything to them. Was this their idea of revenge for letting the girls go by themselves the other day.
“Soo, to be honest, I like you the best out of all these girls. I mean, I don’t like picking favorites, but I can’t help but love you.”
SooYoung snorted. “Probably because I resemble a boy.” Seeing the look of shock on Yoona’s face, she chuckled. “I kid, I kid. Go on.”
“Sunny’s too desperate. I love the kid, but she’s really gotta let go of things. Without noticing it, she’s letting her life become like those reality shows that her sister watches. As for Yuri, she’s just…whatever. Let’s not even get into that topic, eh? And Jessica is just self-conscious. Why else would someone like her legally change her name, dye her hair, lose 25 pounds, and slather on a bunch of makeup and tell everyone it’s natural?”
SooYoung shook her head and took Yoona’s hand in hers. “To be honest, I’ve been acting kinda self-conscious lately, too. I…really like this kid, WooYoung—“
Yoona’s eyes lit up. “I know that kid! He is so adorable. Good choice.”
“Well, yeah, but I haven’t been acting like myself around him. The other day, when we went to the café, I tried talking to him, and made myself look like a complete fool. I’ve never fired so many questions or acted so girly around any guy. And the thing is, I’ve never had this problem before. This is all so new to me.”
Yoona ducked her head, so SooYoung wouldn’t see her beaming. All she’d ever wanted in the world was to be a big sister to someone, and here was her chance.
“We’ve all been there. You act differently because you think that he won’t like your true self, but I’ve seen him around plenty, and I think he’s more into girls that express themselves. He also hangs out with really nice people. That Junho kid can dance.”
SooYoung nodded. “You’re right. I’m being crazy. We’ve got a date, anyways. Hey! You and Taec can come along! That’d fix the awkwardness between you two.”
Yoona closed her eyes as she flashed back to herself standing in front of the door; Taec asking her what she was doing; her hopefully replying that she thought he wanted to talk to her; him shaking his head and walk away.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. He doesn’t want to talk to me.”
SooYoung’s face took on a more stern look. “You’re coming.”
Yoona sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
“But this time, don’t tell the girls, and don’t wear makeup. You’re naturally so pretty that it looks scary on you,” she got up, blew a kiss at Yoona—“Saranghaeyo, Yoo,” —and left.
Yoona sighed once again. She’d left out the part about WooYoung constantly staring at Dara.
**
Everyone was practicing for the rehearsal in the auditorium when WooYoung and Daesung arrived. Girls and boys doing choreography, practicing their songs, and some in the corner, writing or reading. Daesung rushed over to them, his sketchbook tucked under his arms.
WooYoung joined Dara, CL, and G-Dragon, who never seemed to leave and watched them try to choreograph a dance for “Just Can’t Get Enough”. Woo scrunched his face up.
“Whose song is this?”
“Mine,” GD said, wiping his face with a towel. “Why?”
“What’s its special meaning to you?”
“I like it. And I can never get enough of anything, you know? Everything gives me an adrenaline high. I have fun while doing whatever thing.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Dara said, stepping up and pouting at WooYoung.
“Nah, not a problem. Take it easy, man,” GD said, clapping Woo on the shoulder and shooting a grin at him.
“Whatever. Anyways, Dara, I need your help with something. How would you like to be my dance partner for the final?”
“Actually,” CL, who’d been staring at GD’s shaggy blonde hair like she expected something to pop out of it, said, “she’s doing a number with G-Dragon.” She didn’t look all too pleased with it.
“Isn’t your dance going to be solo?” WooYoung asked, trying not to blow his cheeks out, something he did when he was really nervous.
“Ah, yeah, but I’m also gonna sing, and I need a female part. She volunteered.”
Dara wouldn’t meet WooYoung’s eyes.
“But I really need you.”
“I’ll do her part with you, GD,” CL said.
“But you rap. I need a girl with a soft voice.”
CL’s face changed color, and her smile disappeared as quickly as it’d appeared. “Fine then.” She stormed off, her long blonde ponytail swinging ferociously from side to side.
“Um, excuse me? Yeah, uh, sorry to interrupt. I’m Bom,” a girl with long, auburn hair emerged out of nowhere and shook hands with all of them. “I don’t want to seem like I was listening, but I overheard you guys having a discussion about the finals, and I think you’ll be pleased to hear that you can partner up more than once with different people.”
Although it was supposed to make them happy, this news didn’t seem to do any good to ease the tension between the three Asians.
“Uh, okay. Just thought you should know.”
“Well then. That’s good, isn’t it?” WooYoung’s childish demeanor had completely disappeared, and something new, different, and fierce had taken its place.
“Um, I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to chill,” G-Dragon said before walking away.
“The nerve of him!” WooYoung rolled his eyes. Dara hit him.
“Ow!”
“Don’t talk to him like that! He has feelings, too.”
“Really? He really doesn’t show them much, does he?”
“Oh shush,” Dara playfully hit him on the arm this time, trying to ease his uneasiness.
WooYoung watched her walk away, jogging slightly to catch up to G-Dragon.
If I ever left, would she run to catch up with me?
“Shouldn’t you be practicing for your final? You only have five days, you know.”
“Yes, but…I’m a bit confused and frustrated about something. I wanted to clear my brain before I started rehearsing. It’s never good to dance without an empty mind.”
“True, true. What’s bothering you? Is it family? A girl?”
WooYoung cocked his head to the side. He knew he could trust Teacher Lee, but he himself didn’t know how, exactly, he was feeling. Would he be able to put it in words for someone else?
“Maybe. I mean, I don’t know. I have a friend who might like someone, but I think it’s dangerous.”
“And why are you interfering? If you really want her to be safe, let her fall flat on her face. That’s how you learn.”
“But—“
“You care for her. Yes, I know. It’s typical. You teenagers are all the same; you have no originality. No offense. Just let her choose her own path. She’ll come around eventually.” With that, she got up to leave.
“Teacher Lee?”
“Hmm?”
“Is it true that you were raised in America.”
“What do you think?”
It sure would explain a lot.
Woo stared at his computer once again. Who could he turn to for help in a situation like this?
He took out his cellphone and pressed one.
Hopefully his bro--
“Hello?”
“Uh, hey hyung. What’s going on over there?”
“It’s been a while since you called. I was beginning to worry about you. Mom’s going crazy. She cries every day. You’d think she’d have her hands full with three other kids, but no, her little Woo is probably all hungry and losing weight over at that school. Oh, how hard they make you work over there, according to her. Me? I say you’re probably having the time of your life. No mom, no annoying siblings, and more than enough time to play StarCraft.”
WooYoung smirked. His older brother’s obsession with videogames hadn’t decreased one bit.
“So why’d you call? Something happen?”
“Well…yeah. I have a friend that—“
“Girl or boy?”
“Girl?”
“Why are you so uncertain of her gender? Is she…you know…?”
“No. Just…don’t judge, okay?”
“Let me guess—you like her, she likes someone else, you don’t like the person she likes, and none of you get what you want. Am I correct?”
“How did you—“
“Been there, done that. It’s always the same old story. Lemme just say that every story doesn’t have the same ending, although it may follow a similar plotline. Sometimes you’ll get a happy ending, and sometimes…you won’t. Is she pretty?”
“Yeah. But…listen. I don’t even know if I like her. She’s my best friend. What if I just want to make myself believe that I like her because that’s the way it always is?”
“Good point. How do you feel around her?”
“Like…I dunno. Like myself?”
“That’s good. Look, as your older brother, I’m supposed to give you amazing advice, but I think you shouldn’t try to speed things up. I know it’s hard, but if she likes someone else, you can’t force her to stop liking him. You’ve just gotta go with it. You can try dating other girls, but I say that’s a flop. I don’t believe in jealousy, and I don’t believe in one-timers. If you’re gonna love someone, do it right. Don’t mess up. Life isn’t a fairytale. I don’t want reality to slap you in the face one day, so I’m doing it myself.”
“Thanks hyung. This really helped, actually. Tell mom I really liked the fried meat-and-rice she sent me, although it wasn’t necessary; we do have food here, you know. And tell me if you ever pass Level 45. Not that you will or anything.”
WooYoung closed the phone before his brother could protest, smiling to himself.
Thank god he wasn’t the oldest child. It was so much work.
**
NichKhun and Junho sat at a table, their heads bent over WooYoung’s Composing notebook. It was full of absurd lyrics:
Do you ever think, I’ll be the one, for anyone?
Will the stars ever align themselves for me?
Will I ever be the one, the only one, for anyone?
“This is nonsense,” NichKhun spat out, shaking his head in disgust. “It almost sounds…”
“Gay,” Junho sniffed. “Is he in love or something? You still haven’t told me what’s going on. You don’t expect me to cluelessly stare on as I watch you make weird faces and say random things to Woo, do you?”
“I thought that you, Captain Obvious, would’ve figured it out by now: He likes Dara.”
“Well…that’s an interesting assumption. Are you sure, though? I don’t like jumping to conclusions. Assuming things can make you look like a complete ass at times.”
NichKhun stared at Junho. There he goes, defending WooYoung again. Would he ever do that for me?
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I mean, he practically said it the other day.”
“Just…don’t make him feel uncomfortable. Don’t press him about it, or he’ll blow. Trust me, I know. My sister’s like that.”
Just then, WooYoung walked into the cafeteria, smiling as he talked into his phone.
“Who’s he talking to?”
“His brother, most likely.”
NichKhun felt inexplicable envy towards this brother. He wanted to have WooYoung’s attention. All of it. He felt as though he deserved it, although he hadn’t particularly done anything for it. It frustrated him so much that he didn’t have anyone that knew everything about him; that he could share all his secrets with.
But…wait…He’d completely forgotten about G-Dragon. He’d played the whole thing so coolly that NichKhun had failed to remember that he knew about the…thing. He slowly got up and ruffled his hair, which stood up on its burnt orange ends.
“I…I’m gonna…I have to leave,” Junho looked up from the notebook, a surprised look on his face.
“Uh…okay. Sure.”
“See you…later.”
NichKhun shook his head and walked away as quickly as his feet would take him. What would they think if they knew his secret? Would they ever look at him the same way? Nich highly doubted it. He didn’t have any regrets about telling someone, but he was having second thoughts about choosing GD; not particularly because he’d tell more than the fact that WooYoung, whom he considered to be his closest friend, despised him, despite his overexaggerated denial of the obvious fact.
He went straight up to the balcony, knowing that GD would be there.
**
Yoona stroked her pillow over and over, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill over and ruin the foundation that she’d let Yuri apply on her. Her fingers were shaking, and she could feel the hiccups beginning at the bottom of her stomach.
Why did she always agree to stupid things? She wasn’t stupid, and she knew it, so why did she act so defenseless? It was her fault that she was in this position, not anyone else’s.
There was a soft knock on the door. Yoona buried her face in the pillow. A more forceful knock followed.
“Ya, unnie, open the door, or I’ll break it!”
Yoona wiped her face and got up to open the door.
“Hey SooYoung.”
“Don’t ‘hey SooYoung’ me. I’m headed over to beat the literal crap out of Yuri and Jessica, and wanted to stop by to ask if you’d like to give them a last message.”
“No, no, no. You can’t do that. Sit down.”
“No! I’ll do what you never do! I should’ve done it a long time ago, anyways. You know that.”
Yoona couldn’t deny that SooYoung was…a bit of a tomboy. She was breathtakingly gorgeous, but she spent all her time watching sports, playing videogames, and gorging herself on fifty too many kim baps. When she wasn’t doing that, she was dancing.
“Yeah, but…I mean, you’re an amazing person. We love hanging out with you!”
“Are you sure Jess and Yuri aren’t just hanging out with me because they think I’m pretty? Most of the time, they ignore me, because everything I do is irrelevant to them and their meaningless, Americanized lives. Anyways, that’s not important right now. Those girls completely embarrassed you in front of Taec! Aren’t you mad? Infuriated? Don’t you want to punch them? Why are you so damn calm?” SooYoung tugged at her long hair, her eyebrows pulled together.
Actually, Yoona wasn’t angry. She was just hurt. Why Jessica and Yuri made her up and told her to go wait in front of Taec’s room, only to have him open the door to get out half an hour later and see her, was beyond her. She’d never done anything to them. Was this their idea of revenge for letting the girls go by themselves the other day.
“Soo, to be honest, I like you the best out of all these girls. I mean, I don’t like picking favorites, but I can’t help but love you.”
SooYoung snorted. “Probably because I resemble a boy.” Seeing the look of shock on Yoona’s face, she chuckled. “I kid, I kid. Go on.”
“Sunny’s too desperate. I love the kid, but she’s really gotta let go of things. Without noticing it, she’s letting her life become like those reality shows that her sister watches. As for Yuri, she’s just…whatever. Let’s not even get into that topic, eh? And Jessica is just self-conscious. Why else would someone like her legally change her name, dye her hair, lose 25 pounds, and slather on a bunch of makeup and tell everyone it’s natural?”
SooYoung shook her head and took Yoona’s hand in hers. “To be honest, I’ve been acting kinda self-conscious lately, too. I…really like this kid, WooYoung—“
Yoona’s eyes lit up. “I know that kid! He is so adorable. Good choice.”
“Well, yeah, but I haven’t been acting like myself around him. The other day, when we went to the café, I tried talking to him, and made myself look like a complete fool. I’ve never fired so many questions or acted so girly around any guy. And the thing is, I’ve never had this problem before. This is all so new to me.”
Yoona ducked her head, so SooYoung wouldn’t see her beaming. All she’d ever wanted in the world was to be a big sister to someone, and here was her chance.
“We’ve all been there. You act differently because you think that he won’t like your true self, but I’ve seen him around plenty, and I think he’s more into girls that express themselves. He also hangs out with really nice people. That Junho kid can dance.”
SooYoung nodded. “You’re right. I’m being crazy. We’ve got a date, anyways. Hey! You and Taec can come along! That’d fix the awkwardness between you two.”
Yoona closed her eyes as she flashed back to herself standing in front of the door; Taec asking her what she was doing; her hopefully replying that she thought he wanted to talk to her; him shaking his head and walk away.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. He doesn’t want to talk to me.”
SooYoung’s face took on a more stern look. “You’re coming.”
Yoona sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
“But this time, don’t tell the girls, and don’t wear makeup. You’re naturally so pretty that it looks scary on you,” she got up, blew a kiss at Yoona—“Saranghaeyo, Yoo,” —and left.
Yoona sighed once again. She’d left out the part about WooYoung constantly staring at Dara.
**
Everyone was practicing for the rehearsal in the auditorium when WooYoung and Daesung arrived. Girls and boys doing choreography, practicing their songs, and some in the corner, writing or reading. Daesung rushed over to them, his sketchbook tucked under his arms.
WooYoung joined Dara, CL, and G-Dragon, who never seemed to leave and watched them try to choreograph a dance for “Just Can’t Get Enough”. Woo scrunched his face up.
“Whose song is this?”
“Mine,” GD said, wiping his face with a towel. “Why?”
“What’s its special meaning to you?”
“I like it. And I can never get enough of anything, you know? Everything gives me an adrenaline high. I have fun while doing whatever thing.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Dara said, stepping up and pouting at WooYoung.
“Nah, not a problem. Take it easy, man,” GD said, clapping Woo on the shoulder and shooting a grin at him.
“Whatever. Anyways, Dara, I need your help with something. How would you like to be my dance partner for the final?”
“Actually,” CL, who’d been staring at GD’s shaggy blonde hair like she expected something to pop out of it, said, “she’s doing a number with G-Dragon.” She didn’t look all too pleased with it.
“Isn’t your dance going to be solo?” WooYoung asked, trying not to blow his cheeks out, something he did when he was really nervous.
“Ah, yeah, but I’m also gonna sing, and I need a female part. She volunteered.”
Dara wouldn’t meet WooYoung’s eyes.
“But I really need you.”
“I’ll do her part with you, GD,” CL said.
“But you rap. I need a girl with a soft voice.”
CL’s face changed color, and her smile disappeared as quickly as it’d appeared. “Fine then.” She stormed off, her long blonde ponytail swinging ferociously from side to side.
“Um, excuse me? Yeah, uh, sorry to interrupt. I’m Bom,” a girl with long, auburn hair emerged out of nowhere and shook hands with all of them. “I don’t want to seem like I was listening, but I overheard you guys having a discussion about the finals, and I think you’ll be pleased to hear that you can partner up more than once with different people.”
Although it was supposed to make them happy, this news didn’t seem to do any good to ease the tension between the three Asians.
“Uh, okay. Just thought you should know.”
“Well then. That’s good, isn’t it?” WooYoung’s childish demeanor had completely disappeared, and something new, different, and fierce had taken its place.
“Um, I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to chill,” G-Dragon said before walking away.
“The nerve of him!” WooYoung rolled his eyes. Dara hit him.
“Ow!”
“Don’t talk to him like that! He has feelings, too.”
“Really? He really doesn’t show them much, does he?”
“Oh shush,” Dara playfully hit him on the arm this time, trying to ease his uneasiness.
WooYoung watched her walk away, jogging slightly to catch up to G-Dragon.
If I ever left, would she run to catch up with me?